Mojahed Gholami

One of the less explored types of ambiguity (ihām) in Hafez’s poetry is the polysemy or multiple interpretations resulting from “variant readings”. Today, we are faced with a large number of ancient manuscripts of Hafez’s works, filled with textual variations and diverse readings by scribes. Although these variations are a major factor in the emergence of different versions and critical editions of certain debated verses, sometimes this multiplicity does not stem from manuscript discrepancies but rather from the differences in how readers interpret or vocalize a particular word or phrase. This phenomenon can open the way to uncovering a unique type of ambiguity in Hafez’s poetry.In this article, drawing on Reception Theory and reader-oriented hermeneutics—which emphasize the conscious and unconscious role of the reader in meaning-making and consider diverse interpretations and readings both possible and inevitable—we offer a fresh perspective on the issue of variant readings in Hafez’s poetry. We investigate whether, instead of the conventional practice among commentators of privileging one reading over others, embracing the legitimacy of multiple readings of a single phrase could lead to the discovery of a lesser-studied form of ambiguity in Hafez’s work. A case study of the variant reading “savād-e sehr/sahar” reveals how the reader’s intervention in selecting or combining readings creates a new type of ambiguity in which both author and reader share in the production of meaning. Accordingly, variant readings in Hafez’s Dīvān can be seen not as an obstacle but as a platform for semantic openness and textual polyphony.